Alternate ending for 'Secrets'
by Jacqueline Roget
Summary: Young Blades alternate ending for finale...w some things left out...


**Author's Note: I did not intend to do an 'alternate' ending, but I got a couple requests, so... here it is... please note when you get bad hurt, it's hard to determine between reality and non-reality... Thanks to Heather...she was my wonderful Beta. Feedback please. Meg**

"_I will continue to fight injustice whenever I find it!" Jacqueline spoke the words with true feeling._

"_As will I," d'Artagnan added as he saluted with his rapier. The man smiled at them both._

_"Spoken like true heroes. Now go! Quickly!" He ushered them to the door. They ran out to the horses and mounted quickly as they fled Paris in the dark of night._

Jacqueline opened her eyes and blinked the blurring light away. _Where am I?_ She thought as she looked around. She tried to move only to be rewarded with agonizing pain. She groaned in response.

"Jacques, are you alright?" The worried face of her brother appeared above her.

"What happened?" she managed to get out. Gerard looked down before he responded.

"Guards tried to arrest us and you were hurt. D'Artagnan went for help." Jacqueline winced as the memories came flooding back. She looked around searching for Bernard.

"The guards?" she asked as dread filled her.

"Dead," he replied without remorse. Jacqueline turned toward the door, hiding her relief. The dream was just a dream. Her thoughts turned toward d'Artagnan. She remembered the fear in his eyes, as he looked her wound over. Why did he refuse her earlier? She did not understand his actions; they contradicted each other. Gerard interrupted her thoughts as he handed her a cup of water. She felt tired again and she fell asleep immediately.

D'Artagnan jumped off his horse almost running toward the cabin.

"He's in here," he told them. D'Artagnan stopped as an uncomfortable thought occurred to him. "Just Siroc for now," he ordered. Ramon gave him a confused look but stayed. Siroc opened the door and went straight to Jacqueline ignoring both Gerard and d'Artagnan. He looked over her wound with his normal serious expression.

"How has she been?" d'Artagnan asked Gerard. His voice low and full of concern. Gerard shook his head.

"She has not gotten any worse, just not better." D'Artagnan did not respond to him. They both turned as Siroc stood.

"She'll live. The wound has been cleaned and bound." He stopped as he opened a bag and handed it to d'Artagnan. "Rest and these twice a day."

"You know about..." Gerard trailed off unable to finish.

"I am no dummy. I have known for awhile that she was a woman." Siroc paused. "I'll leave you two to take care of her. I'll think of something to tell Duval." D'Artagnan nodded and Gerard stepped forward.

"Thank you, for all you have done for my sister." Siroc patted him on the back before leaving. Gerard looked first at his unconscious sister then at d'Artagnan. "I won't leave till she is better." D'Artagnan sighed and shook his head.

"She would not want you to risk it, but I will not stop you." Gerard smiled gratefully at him. D'Artagnan understood his fear because he felt it to.

Jacqueline stood next to d'Artagnan, her arm bound and the cross around her neck barely visible. Tears filled her eyes as she watched her brother turn to leave once again. D'Artagnan walked toward him, and they continued towards the horse out of her hearing.

"I know she is safe with you," Gerard said. He turned to make sure Jacqueline could not hear them. "You will love and protect her always?"

D'Artagnan looked back at Jacqueline before responding. "I swear it," he said as he put his hand on his heart.

Gerard mounted the horse. "She cares for you; I am sure." Gerard kicked the horse and galloped off in the woods.

Ramon and Siroc bounded up not long after. "Jacques, mi amigo. You look better!" Ramon called to them.

"Yes, thank you, Ramon," Jacqueline said, using her fake voice once again.

D'Artagnan put his arm on her shoulder protectively to help her over to the horses causing his jacket to open and an empty bottle to fall out.

Ramon, who had dismounted, stooped to pick it up. "Ah! You used the potion. It works well, eh?" Ramon raised his eyebrows up suggestively. Jacqueline turned to Ramon and Siroc suddenly with suspicious thoughts.

"What does it do?" she asked them. Siroc cleared his throat sending d'Artagnan a look saying he knew what he had done and pitied him Jacqueline's reaction.

"It makes the opposite sex attracted to you." Ramon put an arm around her. "Mi amigo, it is wonderful! Perhaps Siroc can make you some, cheer you up, no?"

"_You don't mean it."_

"_I do."_

"_No, you don't but someday you will."_ Jacqueline let a small smile trace her lips. She understood now why he pulled away. He cared enough to want it to be real.

Jacqueline shook her head. "No thanks, I do not need it." Ramon shrugged and mounted the horse. Jacques was a strange man. Jacqueline turned to d'Artagnan as he helped her onto her horse. She should tell him it did not work, that he lost his opportunity for now.

D'Artagnan mounted his and rode quietly. Ramon and Siroc soon were ahead of them and he turned to her. "Jacqueline, I did not mean…"

She stopped her horse suddenly causing him to stop. He prepared himself for her anger. "It did not work on me," she said, causing him to look at her confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"I already felt that way," she replied, then kicked her horse off into a gallop after Ramon and Siroc, not waiting for his reply. D'Artagnan sat there a minute before his face broke into a smile and he hurried to catch up with his comrades.


End file.
